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I posted the two pictures in yesterday’s post on YoYo’s on Flickr and got a comment from a gentleman in Brazil telling me that in his country they are called Fuxico.  So I did a search and found a crafty blogger from Brazil with this really cute, floral rendition (scroll down the page until you get to her March 10th posting).  She even has easy to understand visual instructions (a plus since I know about six words of Spanish, most of them unprintable).   

I think Fuxico must refer to folded and gathered fabric.  My search came up with both the floral version and the YoYo version.  I even found a Fuxico Brazilian bikini for you more adventuresome types.

Fuxico comes from the word ‘fuxicar’ which means to gossip – what you do when you are sitting around with your girlfriends, making these. 

I whipped up the blue and red one in about five minutes (I wish I had paid better attention to the order of my fabrics – I wouldn’t have had the same print side by side).  I think a vintage button would make a better center and I also think they look cuter when the petals are all the same color.  Look at this version with a crocheted center – further proof I need to learn how to crochet. 

I’m enamored with these little gossipy blossoms but I’ll stick with my YoYo’s for now.  I’m already committed, seeing as how I have seven of them done (not a lot of progress was made today, as you can see).

A couple of weeks ago I had one of those fleeting project idea thoughts flit through my head.  I was looking for a particular fabric and stumbled across a picture of a very lovely YoYo quilt.  I have been looking for something to occupy my hands in the evening and was sort of leaning towards embroidery until I saw the quilt. 

It perfectly fits the bill.  It’s easy, it’s very portable – I can have a nice little basket with my circles precut and my needle and thread.  And Charm pack squares are the perfect size.  I envision the quilt to be done all in lighter pastel shades and very scrappy. 

On the web page I saw that the person had actually bought a bag of pre-made YoYo’s at a garage sale.   I kind of like the idea of rescuing a forgotten project and incorporating it into my quilt so I’ll have to be on the lookout. 

So this idea joined the many ‘wouldn’t it be nice…..’ ‘oh, I’d love to…’ ideas that constantly float around my head.  Then I stumbled on a tutorial by Heather Bailey (of the coveted Freshcut line).  It was just the push I needed to get started.  I went to our local quilt shop and bought a charm pack (Moda’s Apron Strings) and I’m off and running.  I modified Heather’s steps slightly in that in addition to the 4" circle template I cut out for cutting I also cut a 3 1/2" circle to help me iron down the seam allowance. 

This may end up being my life’s work since I’ll need about a gagillion of the YoYo’s to make a quilt.  Hey ~ 7 down – It’s a start.

There aren’t many things that beat the feeling you get when you have a nice, new stack of books.

I’ve had Pretty Little Things on my wish list for a long time.  I’m absolutely in love with Sally Jean Alexander’s work.   I’ve long been interested in soldering and noticing some work Cindy did I emailed her and she pointed me toward Sally Jean’s website. 

The photography in the book is incredibly inspiring and she has a huge variety of projects in the book, with step by step instructions.   I’ve only just leafed through the book and everything in it so amazingly pretty I can’t look for too long.  It makes me giddy. 

In my stack of books I also recieved Cottage Style Decorating and Celebrating Home.  I haven’t had a chance to give either more than a cursory look but both look like they totally capture my decorating style. 

This upcoming weekend I’m clearing off my schedule on Saturday afternoon, building a fire and I’m going to snuggle in for an afternoon of reading.

Yesterday my friend Rhonda came by and she brought me a little snowman.  It’s very cute but not exactly my style.  I think the bark around his waist makes him kind of homespun countryish.  So I decided to modify him a bit.  There’s nothing like a little glitter to spiff a guy up:

I also knit him a new scarf.  He is going to fit in with my creamy white and antique silver theme I have going on this year.  I’ve tucked his red and white scarf away because you never know what the theme will be next year.